Why Becoming A Space Citizen Is Now Fully In Your Reach

Here's an experiment: during your next dinner party, engage your guests in a scenario in which the earth as we know it has collapsed, and you (all) have fled into space to create a new civilization. What would it look like? What would the laws be? What would your culture look like? What would the economy run on? How would you live? Would there be a religion? If so, which one--or would you just create your own?

Stir the conversation around and see what you and your friends come up with. It's not as simple as it sounds, but it will reveal a lot about you and your guests: what they value most, and what things in life are more important than others.

Does this new space civilization sound far-fetched?

We have already seen Elon Musk's vision for a Martian civilization and his desire to be a catalyst for humanity to become a muli-planetary species. But he's not the only person thinking about this future, and putting a plan into action.

The U.K.'s Sun reported a story today reporting that "The first space nation was revealed today and YOU can sign up to be a citizen." And the report goes on to state "We could see people living in space in less than 12 months time, experts say as they christen the new 'country' Asgardia.

Asgardia: The First Space Nation

Space Nation is proposed by Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli, one of the Russian Federation's most distinguisshd scientists and founder of the Aerospace International Research Center (AIRC). Dr. Ahurbeyli also became chairman of UNESCO's Science of Space committee. The project was started by a similar scenario that I suggested for you at your next dinner party: exploring whether it's possible to create a country in orbit. On the Room website that reported today's press conference, it states, "Dr. Ashurbeyli has consulted a group of globally renowned scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs  and legal experts on the development of the concept.

If you're interested in living on this space nation, you can apply to become a citizen via its website. All you have to do is fill in your first and last name, your email address, and country, and verify that you are 18 years or older--that's all! A free invitation to become a member of this space colony--but apparently only for the first 100,000 people. According to Dr. Ashurbeyli, "Asgardia is a fully-fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations--with all the attributes this status entails." And again, the Dr. reveals the vision and philosophy, as it were, for this space nation: "The essence of Asgardia is peace in space, and the prevention of Earth's conflicts being transferred into space." 

To me, this is merely a utopian vision that fails to consider the cold hard truth of human history: that we have pretty much messed up every civilization we've been in. How would bringing all these people into space suddenly change all that? Will humans suddenly change with that of the altitude? Will zero-gravity bring about a dramatic shift in the human being's quest for power and control that bleed through the pages of history? 

According to Dr. Ashubeyli, there are currently 14 nations in the world that have launched satellites into space, but Asgardia will be the first to be fully independent with its own flag and set of laws. And, as if it needed to get better, a citizenship to Asgardia is a dual one with your own country (though I wonder if Canada, or any other country for that matter, would comply).